Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Light distance and ranging (LIDAR) is an optical remote sensing technology that may be utilized to acquire information on a surrounding environment. The LIDAR device may use ultraviolet, visible, or infrared light to illuminate and acquire information on a variety of different types of objects, such as metallic and non-metallic items, geological formations, and even atmospheric elements. The acquired information may include distances and textures of objects in the surrounding environment.
In operation, a LIDAR device may be configured to illuminate the objects with light, detect light reflected from the objects, and determine information on the objects based on the reflected light. In such an implementation, a distance of an object may be determined based on a time between when a light pulse for illuminating the object is transmitted and when a corresponding reflected light pulse is received at the LIDAR device. Further, a reflective property (or texture) of the object may be determined based on an amplitude of the reflected light pulse.